Holyshit I drew a background from reference!
I have come to the conclusion that drawing backgrounds is bad for me. I've realized that I'm a detail whore and I want to draw EVERYTHING, which, in cases like this, makes me feel overwhelmed.
I asked my wife for critique, and she pointed out that I'd stretched everything out. So, I took the drawing and pinched it a bit...
...and, gaddamn, I sure did.
Serves me right for trying to pull a Michelangelo and work with no guidelines.
Stay tuned for challenge! Feel free to critique in the meantime.

haha nice. It's fun ainnit? Even more fun if you pick movies with really nice lighting and compositions and stuff.

Spent more like 3 hours on it, not an easy one you picked, I still got some things wrong. xD You're getting better but still have a tendency to put in things that aren't there. The most obvious offending elements are the mouth and the eyes, and the pillars on the right.

But the only way to get better at seeing things is through practice, so I'mma get to the reply real quick

Wow, been over a month. Damn, I feel rusty.
This will be my brother's birthday present. It's a good thing he doesn't know this website, and if he does and is reading this, feliz cumpleanos, vato!
I've become tired of my usual style (or lack thereof), and I feel the need to reinvent it, or rediscover it, as it were. I feel like mastering realism will allow me to master everything else. We'll see.
So, sit tight while I rediscover myself, like a hippie.Source

First sketch of '13, woo. I tried to emulate your style, Ast, for this one, because why not? You're, like, the best artist here, so might as well.
One of my resolutions for this year is not to get better (since that's a very broad goal) but to try and do more storytelling through my drawings, as opposed to having them be all "She's just standing there, looking badass". I'm still gonna do those pinups, but I want to do more active pictures.
Challenge to come.

and no i'm not the best artist (how do you define best?) but I appreciate the thought lol!! I love storytelling through art but it's soo hard haha. I guess we're in it together eh :]

Thanks for that. I downloaded the brushes, and damn, that's a beast. Though I noticed a lot of them repeat two or three times. No matter. I can't wait to play with them.

I think defining someone as 'the best artist' is largely subjective. For example, let's say you have two artist. One is amazing at doing technical drawings and inanimate objects, but can't draw people for shit. The other is badass at drawing people and form, but can't draw a car to save his life. Depending on where your tastes lie, you may find that one is a 'better' artist than the other; maybe not in terms of skill, but definitely on subject matter.
When I said "you're the best artist here" I didn't mean it as a way to diminish the other amazing people we have here. Makkon does some awesome surrealistic pieces; Muzz is badass at creature design, Darkreaver has a bit of everything, and Jigo's background at Disney shows through on her portrayals of people. You, as RO said, are the fastest improving artist here, and you draw some awesome fantasy pieces, which is what appeals to me the most. Because you draw what I like, and achieved your skill level by pursuing the avenues I want to pursue, to me, you are the best artist here.
Gimme a couple days to come up with a challenge. I need to catch up on the other ones, too.

Here you go, you.
Loren, on a dragonslaying mission!
...I don't actually know if she fights dragons or not, but she needed to have just killed something for the picture in my mind.
I did your character, do one of mine next!

Also, all of those previous "you're the best artist here", let's save me the trouble and just read those as "you're my favorite artist here". As I said, I'm not trying to downplay anyone, especially when all the people mentioned before are better than me.